The popularity of the Internet has given rise to the employ of the web browser as a universal client, replacing older specialized client-server software systems. The primary advantage of this approach lies in the ubiquity and low cost of browser software. However, web browsers were originally designed for traversing hyperlinked multi-media information rather than serving as a remote processing client. They provide features for hyperlink navigation such as a Forward button, a Back button, and bookmarks, but these navigation features are usually incompatible with web applications, typically causing the application to malfunction if they are used.
Many companies have turned to this model as a way to connect with existing customers, while others have built companies based entirely on interacting with customers through the Internet. Consequently, the average Internet user has many accounts with various online service providers many of which perform the same function, and maintain redundant remote data sets, such as calendaring, e-mail accounts, instant messaging (IM), IM handles, address books and contacts just to name a few. The most common example is multiple web e-mail accounts hosted by such providers as Yahoo! And MSN, each with its own remote address book, calendar and contacts list.
Consequently, remote services have become isolated silos or islands of functionality and data. Web browsers, by design, do not facilitate data sharing or any form of interoperability across remote services. For instance, a user of a Yahoo account cannot start an instant messaging session with someone who has a hotmail account. Therefore, either or both parties must acquire accounts on the other hosting servers site to be able to engage in this activity. While inconvenient at best, the parties now have two accounts with probably different user names and logins and IM handles. Additionally, addresses, contacts, calendars etc. of the newer account will not be as robust as the first account.
Prior Art FIG. 1 depicts conventional means 2 for accessing data and services form multiple web sites and/or service providers. The user 4 must initiate multiple web browser instances 6 with their attendant usernames and log-ins applying similar but different communications protocols 8 to access the hosting providers functions and services 10. As seen in FIG. 1, the user must access and invoke each of the remote services separately via one or more browsers. No data is shared among the service providers nor is there any navigational support for any complimentary or redundant functions and/or services.
The prior art is deficient in that it does not provide for the utilization of one browser to access multiple service providers